You don’t have time for three hours of doomscrolling, twenty half-baked takes, and some guy online screaming READ THE THREAD. We are Front Page Detectives, this is your morning Drive-By, and here is what is real.
The only person imprisoned over Epstein’s trafficking operation just watched another exit slam shut.
Ghislaine Maxwell has lost her latest attempt to overturn the sex trafficking conviction that put her behind bars for 20 years. Federal Judge Paul Engelmayer rejected Maxwell’s claims that her constitutional rights were violated during her trial and sentencing, describing them as “all meritless” and “all or almost all” frivolous.
Engelmayer went considerably further than simply denying the petition. He wrote that nearly all of Maxwell’s arguments were procedurally barred and said the “overwhelming testimonial and documentary evidence” presented at trial conclusively established her guilt. Her remaining claims, he said, relied largely on speculation, distortion or outright falsehoods. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of helping Jeffrey Epstein recruit and sexually abuse underage girls.
The defeat comes after the Supreme Court refused last October to hear a separate appeal of her conviction. Maxwell has meanwhile refused to cooperate with the House Oversight Committee’s investigation into Epstein, invoking her rights when subpoenaed in February. Her attorney has said she would speak if President Donald Trump granted her clemency.
That leaves Maxwell in an increasingly peculiar position. Millions of pages of Epstein material have been released, Congress continues probing the network around him, and questions remain about who else knew what was happening. Yet the only person convicted alongside the entire sprawling scandal remains Maxwell, and the judge who just reviewed her latest escape attempt found virtually nothing worth entertaining.
Hot Take
Maxwell went looking for a loose brick in the prison wall. The judge found smoke, mirrors and bad excuses. The cell door stays shut, while the bigger Epstein mystery keeps walking the streets.
The rapper and his former right-hand man are ending their courtroom war without either side admitting wrongdoing.
Busta Rhymes has agreed to pay former personal assistant Dashiel Gables $25,000 to settle competing lawsuits involving unpaid wages, alleged workplace mistreatment and an accusation that the rapper punched him during a confrontation in Brooklyn. Gables had originally sought roughly $6 million.
Gables claimed he regularly worked 15 to 18-hour days between summer 2024 and January 2025 while receiving a flat $200 daily rate. He also accused Rhymes of striking him following an argument over work duties and a cellphone. Rhymes denied the allegations and countersued, claiming Gables spread false accusations that damaged his reputation and cost him business.
Under the proposed settlement, Gables will receive two $12,500 payments, with one classified as wages and the other resolving his remaining claims. He must also return private work materials. A federal judge still needs to approve the wage portion before the dispute can finally be dismissed without a trial.
Hot Take
Six million dollars walked into the room and twenty-five grand walked out. Somewhere between the accusation and the courthouse door, somebody decided certainty was worth more than another round under the lights.
The Hollywood Hills property tied to Celeste Rivas Hernandez’s killing is still looking for somebody willing to call it home.
The Hollywood Hills house where prosecutors allege D4vd murdered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez has had its monthly rent cut after spending months on the market. Property records reportedly show the asking price falling more than 10 percent, from $23,950 to $21,500 a month.
D4vd, whose real name is David Burke, moved out in September 2025, shortly after police searched the property during their investigation into Celeste’s death. Prosecutors allege Burke invited the teenager to the house in April 2025 and that she was never seen alive again. The property was eventually offered for rent in February.
The house has since become part of the grim geography of the prosecution. Investigators used luminol inside and reportedly recovered or examined chainsaws, suspected blood evidence and a cut-up inflatable pool, material later raised during Burke’s preliminary hearing. There is no confirmation that the criminal case caused the price reduction or that the property has remained completely vacant since Burke left.
Hot Take
Every house has a history. Some get granite counters and a fresh coat of paint. Others get luminol on the floor and a price cut nobody needs explained.
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Prosecutors say the younger Crips in that Cadillac would never have pulled the trigger without his blessing.
A former Compton gang detective told jurors that Duane “Keffe D” Davis was the senior “shot caller” among the four men allegedly inside the white Cadillac involved in Tupac Shakur’s 1996 murder. Robert Ladd testified that Davis held enough authority within the South Side Compton Crips that younger members would not have opened fire in his presence without permission.
That distinction goes directly to the prosecution’s murder case. Prosecutors do not allege Davis personally shot Shakur. They say he orchestrated the retaliation following the MGM Grand fight involving Shakur and Davis’ nephew Orlando “Baby Lane” Anderson. Ladd said that if Davis had ordered the men to settle the dispute another day, “there wouldn’t have been a shooting.”
The defense attacked the absence of physical corroboration. Ladd conceded that beyond Davis’ own statements, he had no physical evidence placing him in Las Vegas that night and no phone records showing him ordering the killing. Prosecutors are leaning heavily on Davis’ years of interviews and admissions, while his lawyers insist those stories were exaggerated gangster bravado. The state is expected to rest its case Wednesday.
Hot Take
Thirty years later, the Cadillac is still rolling through this courtroom. No fingerprints on the steering wheel, no phone call giving the order, just an old gangster’s own words riding shotgun.
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Kevin Thornton says his family has received death threats as he prepares to fight claims made by his youngest daughter.
Color Me Badd founding member Kevin Thornton has publicly denied allegations from his daughter Mikayla Thornton that she and her siblings suffered physical and religious abuse while growing up. Mikayla has described the family environment as cult-like and alleged that her father beat the children with a Bible and forced them to participate in exorcisms.
Thornton and his wife strongly dispute the accusations and warned that the allegations circulating through interviews, podcasts and social media should not be treated as established facts. Thornton said the family has received death threats and threats of physical violence since the claims became public, and said they have been advised against litigating the details through social media.
Thornton said he intends to challenge what he described as lies, deception and defamation and suggested more than one person was responsible for spreading the allegations. Mikayla, meanwhile, has described growing up believing her father was the unquestioned head of the family and that the outside world was against them. The allegations remain disputed, with no finding establishing them as fact in the material provided.
Hot Take
Family secrets make lousy houseguests. Once they hit daylight, everybody reaches for a different version of the past. Somewhere underneath all that noise, the truth is waiting to be identified.
